For 14 days, I rode this Chinese-made, Italian designed bike from Kunming in SE China, to the base of Everest and back to Lhasa (almost 4000 km) giving ample opportunity to test this machine to the limit. I had originally planned to ride a BMW F800, a true "Adventure Bike" that was a promised rental. Having previously owned one of these, I knew it would do the job.
The Benelli was a last minute replacement (as BMW decided not to let me rent an F800 because "We know where you are going"!) However, despite long sections of the ride being in Tibet, the "tour organiser" had planned all sections to be on sealed roads. This proved to be somewhat of a misnomer, with long very pot-holed sections, and short passes of gravel where storms had overflowed the rivers, or the road was under repair.
Benelli promote this machine as an "Adventure Bike" for those looking to start somewhere adventurous. It is not. The engine is a twin cylinder 500cc model with 360 degree crank (meaning the pistons rise and fall together, but fire alternately), bringing 37kw to the wheels. For me this was inadequate, and I dreamed of something with 80-100 hp. However, the tank at 22 litres was sufficient, and suitable for this type of travel, and I regularly out-distanced my colleagues with a full tank of fuel.
The ride position is upright and generally comfortable, especially for shorter riders. I am six foot tall and weigh 97 kg, both of which put this bike under strain, despite me not carrying any real additional load (my bags were in a support van). For a shorter or lighter person, say under 5 foot-eight (common in China) the seat would be excellent, but for me, even a four-inch increase in seat height would not have been enough. This is important on a longer ride to allow our legs to stretch, either by dropping them down off the pegs but also off the road, or standing. To make matters worse, the screen and screen-lets are actually very good, but also more suited to person of shorter stature. The seat is VERY low at 800mm.
On my model, the front wheel had a diameter of 17 inches and both wheels were fitted with hard road tyres (of Chinese brand). On a smooth sealed road they were fine, but truly hopeless in the gravel, mud or bull dust, all of which were crossed with some care. This bikes needs a 19 or 21 inch front wheel and mid all-terrain tyres. These are offered in some areas as an extra on the bike.
One of the key measures of a true adventure bike, is the suspension, always long and compliant. While this model has better suspension than a pure touring bike, it is not sufficient for an Adventure Bike. To be fair, the conditions were very demanding on some days, and a ride up Leaping Tiger Gorge found some truly deep potholes that had the front suspension bottoming-out on four occasions. The challenge for these front "crashes" is two fold - real damage can be done to the machine, and it is particularly hard on the wrists of the rider. The rear suspensions was better, but would have had challenges with any extra load carried.
The bike was reliable in challenging conditions and high altitude. Electrics for example worked well, with one USB connector to the left of the handlebars (not sure how this would go in heavy rain), but the head light was very poor. Luckily I had some excellent driving lights fitted which did the job very well. The dash is tilted further forward than it should be, (even when I was standing on the pegs) and so became covered in dust and mud in tough conditions. There are no heated grips or cruise control, both becoming more important to many who ride around the world.
Could this bike be made into an Adventure machine? Possibly - you could change the tyres and fit a larger rim to the front. You could add good driving lights and even upgrade the suspension. Maybe even add cruise control and heated grips. But this bike was built to a price point (AU$8700 in Australia). It is not an adventure bike, more suited to the streets around town, especially with the low power.
If I was asked for advice I would recommend a second-hand Adventure bike from Honda (Africa Twin), Kawasaki (KLR650), BMW (F700, F800 or F650), KTM 690 or Yamaha Tenere.
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